Some types of known harvesting equipment employ harvesting headers to cut crops for various purposes, such as for windrowing or swathing, or for the feeding of a combine harvester.
Attached to the front/forward portion of a combine harvester or other equipment (such as for example a swather) is the portion that is referred to as the header. A typical header is equipped with a crop cutting system. The header also typically includes a crop moving system such as an auger or a conveyor deck/surface located behind the cutting system onto which cut crop material can be deposited to be moved to for example to a windrow discharge or into the intake of a combine. The header also typically includes a reel which has a reel shaft mounted between two rotational mounts at either end of the header with a rotational power drive interconnected thereto. The reel typically has rotating bats having fingers/tines attached thereto. Rotation of the bats assists in moving standing crop material toward the cutting system, so the crop material can be cut, and then the cut crop material is deposited on the crop moving system.
Known cutting systems employ a relatively large number of components arranged in a relatively complex manner. There are a number of factors with respect to the construction/configuration of the cutting system and the components thereof that can limit the ability of the cutting system to cut crop material at a location on the crop material that is close to the ground surface over which the header and its cutting system are moving. The ability to cut close to the ground surface is particularly important in cutting certain types of crops like pulse crops which include chickpeas, peas, and lentils which mature close to the ground surface. Additionally, known cutting systems utilize a considerable number of separate parts in combination—adding to overall costs associated with these parts and their assembly. The shape profile of known cutting systems can also inhibit the movement of crop material into the cutting system and the movement of cut crop material onto the crop moving system. By way of example, known cutting systems typically include upstanding hold-down devices to hold down the transversely reciprocating knife assemblies from above. Such hold-down devices, which are typically positioned at spaced locations along the length of the cutting system can, at least to some extent, impede the flow of crop material to the crop moving system. The impeding of cut crop flow can cause cut crop material to be lost (eg. cut crop material will drop off the front of the cutting system and onto the ground below, and then pass beneath the header).
Some known cutting systems include reciprocating knife sections with knife blades. The knife sections are typically protected by knife guards. The knife guards typically have to resist, and to some extent absorb, the major forces imparted onto the header that result from the forward movement of the header during operation. The knife guards will often be in ground contact and impact upon hard items in the ground (eg. rocks). Bent or broken guards will typically occur periodically and this can reduce the level of performance of the cutting system. Such damaged/broken guards need to be replaced, but is desirable that the interval between replacement be relatively long.
Known cutting systems also typically include one or more skid shoes/plates positioned beneath a cutter bar and provide some degree of wear protection for the cutter bar of a cutting system. Known systems to secure skid shoes/plates typically use a plurality of separate retainer clips to assist in securing the skid shoes in their proper position. In some known systems, one clip may be used for each skid shoe/knife guard. The clips may be made from bent/stamped steel. The retainer clips are potentially subject to considerable wear due to their proximity on the underside of the cutter bar. They also require additional time to attach to other components of the cutting system.
It is desirable to provide an improved cutting system for a header.